The Hindu Business Line : A new dawn from the land of rising sun

The Nissan Teana, a luxury sedan, will be launched in India soon. In terms of design, it is a classic Nissan, marrying with elan the gracefulness of European simplicity and the streak of Japanese quirkiness that the company's cars are famous for.

A modern home on wheels. - S. Muralidhar

Oiso town in Kanagawa prefecture of Japan faces the Pacific coast and is located at about 70 km west of Tokyo, midway between the Japanese capital and the Hakone National Park. With a bracing sea breeze and plenty of sunshine in the spring and summer months, the scenic highway along the coast of Oiso is a favourite weekend getaway for stressed out `Tokyoites'.

Uninhibited by the crawling traffic on the highway, Tokyo residents drive in by the droves to catch the balmy sea breeze in their hair. What is more, once they go uphill into Hakone National Park, they can also catch a glimpse of Mount Fuji — the sacred volcanic mountain of Japan.

This winter has been one of the worst for Tokyo, not because it was bitterly cold, on the contrary, because it was unusually warm and it hasn't snowed in the Japanese capital, for the first time in a hundred years.

Well, while the environmentalists have had one more piece of evidence to convince world leaders about the effects of global warming, `Tokyoites' themselves have been using the opportunity for some top-down motoring along this famous highway. If this stretch of the highway is so popular amongst the Japanese, for a quartet of Indian motoring journalists, can the prospect be any less alluring.

And so, one sunny evening in early February we found ourselves waiting for the next morning to arrive, when we could savour the sea breeze in four iconic cars from one globally resurgent brand, including one that is all set to land on Indian shores.

The cars were Nissan's and the company was hosting us so that we may get to drive the Teana, a luxury sedan that will be launched in India soon. Nissan officials had arranged a test drive for us along the Oiso coast and clearly the icing on the Japanese cake would be the photo-op with Mt Fuji in the backdrop.

Unfortunately, the next day turned out to be wet and rainy. We drove the cars under overcast skies and intermittent rains, disappointed that the drive up to Hakone National Park had to be called off. Mt Fuji was hidden somewhere behind the clouds. However, inside the comfortable and luxurious Teana, the rain still couldn't quite dampen our spirits.

When it is launched later this month, the Teana will be Nissan's second product in the Indian market. Its first, the X-TRAIL has been focused at a niche, premium, compact sports utility vehicle segment, and has unarguably been successful at building Nissan's brand image amongst the discerning buyers of this category of vehicles. The Teana could well help the Japanese company reinforce the image of `premiumness' associated with the brand.

Uniquely Nissan

In terms of design, the Teana is a classic Nissan, marrying with elan the gracefulness of European simplicity with the streak of Japanese quirkiness that the company cars are famous for. The car's exterior has been given well-balanced proportions and the whole intent of the luxury sedan's overall dimensions is to maximise passenger cabin space.

With a wheelbase of 2,775mm, the Teana, compares favourably with the Toyota Camry, which has the same wheelbase and the Skoda Superb (2,803mm). The Teana's wheels having been pushed out to the extremes, the car gets short overhangs and its side profile is more powerful and stately, thanks to large wheels. The large glass/light area all around dominates the exterior design of the Teana. It's high-set shoulder line that flows into the rear combination tail lamps gives it a purposeful stance. The front of the car is dominated by large trapezoidal headlamps and oversized fog lamps that have been incorporated into a compact bumper.

A carefully crafted large bonnet grille with four stepped slats and the Nissan badge at the middle greets the onlooker at the front. Stereoscopic chrome moulding on the bumper and in fact, chrome inserts all around the car will be liked by Indian buyers, though chrome is going out of vogue in the major markets of the world.

At the rear, the India-spec version of the Teana will get dual exhaust pipes with chrome finishers. The most prominent feature of the rear is, of course, the unique, large, glassed LED clustered tail lamps.

InSIDE a luxury home

In keeping with the Teana's overall luxury positioning, Nissan has attempted to give it a high-class, opulent feel to the interiors too. The interior of this luxury sedan has been styled and the materials used have been carefully chosen to exude the warmth of a luxurious, modern European home.

Materials used on the dashboard and centre console include high-grain, real wood style inserts and polished aluminium surrounds that are meant to mimic the touch and feel of expensive, modern living room furniture. A digital interface and dashboard-integrated controls for the air-conditioner and music system in the Teana has been precision engineered to look as simple, elegant and futuristic as a Nakamichi or a Bang & Olufsen entertainment system.

Based on Indian tastes, the covers for the uniquely shaped seats in the India-spec Teana has been changed over to creamy leather from the suede that is offered as standard in the Japanese-spec version. Wood trim for the auto gearbox shift gate and door handles add to the overall ambience of the Teana's interior. White-backlit instrument panel, four-spoked steering wheel and automatic air-conditioning are all part of standard fitment.

Engine, gearbox and suspension

Nissan officials say that when choosing an engine for the Indian Teana, the primary focus was to ensure that the car would have adequate power and importantly, that when teamed with the car's automatic gearbox, the engine will be refined enough to provide a quiet ride. The engine that has been chosen is from the award winning VQ series of Nissan.

The VQ23DE engine is a 2.3-litre V6 that is capable of generating a respectable 170PS of peak power and 224Nm of peak torque. Capable of smooth power delivery, this engine has a clear sound quality.

With no rough noises coming from the engine and gearbox, the amount of noise and vibration that percolates into the passenger cabin is already low and the sound insulators that Nissan has incorporated around the car manage to isolate the interiors from the outside, though some amount of road rush does seep through.

Again, to keep the ride as comfortable as possible for rear seat passengers, Nissan has chosen a soft suspension set-up for the Teana. The suspension arrangement for the car includes strut-type suspension with a ladder sub-frame for the front and a multi-link set-up for the rear. The suspension manages to achieve the targeted results by absorbing most of the unevenness on the road and ensures that feedback to the rear seat passengers is minimal.

However, with this type of tuning for the suspension, when it is self-driven, you will tend to think that the car floats and lumbers along a bit. Users looking for a more aggressive ride quality, will miss a firmer, more active-feedback set-up.

Safety plus

The Teana will be offered with safety features such as airbags for the driver and front passenger, ABS brakes with EBD and Brake Assist, disc brakes on all four wheels and active head restraints. An engine immobiliser and the intelligent key (iKey) system will also be part of standard equipment.

The iKey, combined with a push button ignition start will enable users to avoid a key altogether. The car's doors get unlocked automatically when the iKey is in the driver's pocket and the engine start button is also on standby in the iKey's presence.

The Teana will be imported in completely built form from Nissan's Kyushu plant in Japan.

The company is in the process of setting up more dealerships, but currently has only five. With pricing expected to be over Rs 20 lakh (ex-showroom), the Teana will compete with the likes of the new Toyota Camry and the Skoda Superb in terms of size, brand and luxury. But it can also be a bigger, equally comfortable and more practical option for buyers looking to buy the Mercedes Benz C-class or the BMW 3-Series.

Nissan knows that it has to face up to such venerable competition and has thus chosen a good car in the Teana, with everything that will please the buyer in this segment.

This even includes the V6 engine and auto gearbox, which is so refined and quiet that though it may not be a sporty performer, the powertrain will still be able to offer adequate power without anything more than a whisper wafting into the passenger cabin.

But with all the features fine-tuned to provide the rear seat passenger the best possible ride, the Teana is not exactly one of the most engaging car's if it is self-driven.

However, the customer profile for luxury sedans will show that an overwhelming majority of owners in this segment will be chauffeured, proving that the Teana is sharply focused and may be the ideal choice for buyers in this segment.

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